. causing leaf blight of in China.

() is a perennial grass species which can be cultivated as an ornamental and medicinal plant. From April 2021 to September 2022, a serious leaf blight disease of was discovered in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China. The initial disease symptoms were small yellow spots, finally developing as tip blight, often associated with many small, black, semi-immersed pycnidial conidiomata formed in lesions. To obtain isolates of the causal agent for this disease, samples were randomly collected from diseased leaves in Rizhao City. In total 97 isolates were obtained from samples, and studied using morphological features and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of a combined dataset using the internal transcribed spacers (ITS), the 28S large subunit of ribosomal RNA (LSU), and partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (), actin () and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase () loci. Phylogenetically, these isolates formed a clade in the species complex, and clustered with and . Morphologically, isolates in this clade differed from and by the size of conidiogenous cells and conidia, and the absence of an apical conidial appendage. As a result, these isolates were described as a novel species . Pathogenicity was confirmed using Koch's postulates, which showed that could induce leaf blight symptoms on in China. Wang C-B, Wang T-T, Ma C-Y, Xue H, Li Y, Piao C-G, Jiang N (2023). . causing leaf blight of in China. : 43-50. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2023.11.03.